Christie gets friendly reception at Sayreville town hall meeting

No protesters for Christie at town hall

Apr. 4, 2014

Gov. Chris Christie in October hugs Elaine Konopka, a Weber Avenue resident who lost her home to Sandy flooding and has accepted a buyout. Christie visited Sayreville last year on the anniversary of Sandy. / File photo

Written by

Mike Deak

@MikeDeakMyCJ

Gov. Chris Christie speaks during a town hall meeting on Thursday at St. Stanislaus Kostka School in Sayreville. / PHOTOS BY Jason Towlen/Staff Photographer

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SAYREVILLE — With schoolchildren giving him gifts and applause greeting many of his answers, it was no surprise that Gov. Chris Christie said he would keep on coming back here for more town hall meetings.

More than 300 people came to the governor’s 117th town hall meeting on Tuesday afternoon in the gymnasium of St. Stanislaus Kostka School, where Christie fielded a wide range of questions for more than an hour after delivering an update on superstorm Sandy relief efforts.

Unlike several recent town hall meetings, the governor was not confronted by protesters or questions about the George Washington Bridge lane closure scandal.

The governor said that under the Blue Acres program, the state Department of Environmental Protection has made offers to purchase 196 properties in Sayreville, and residents have accepted 120. Forty-seven closings have been completed, Christie said.

While New York City has spent only $100,000 to assist renters affected by Sandy, New Jersey has spent $250 million, the governor said.

“We’re doing something right,” he said, adding that nearly three-quarters of that aid has gone to low- and moderate-income families.

The state is anticipating $1.4 billion more in aid from the federal government, and more than half of that amount will go to homeowners and renters, Christie said.

“It’s going to continue to be a big challenge,” he said.

The next stage of the recovery of the storm will involve infrastructure improvement, such as rehabilitating the dune system from Cape May to the Bayshore, he said. Work started this week in Belmar.

“We need to be ready for the next time,” Christie said.

The state also will work with utilities on an “energy resilience” plan to make sure that key facilities, including water-treatment plants and sewage treatment plants are “off the grid” and will have power to continue operating in a storm, the governor said.

“We’re trying to make the state stronger for the next storm,” he said.

Theresa Mills of Williams Street, who she was the first in line for the town hall meeting, said she had a simple message for Christie — “thank you.”

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Mills said that a member of the governor’s staff helped with a FEMA problem as her family was recovering from both the storm and a personal tragedy.

“You can do no wrong in my eyes,” Mills told Christie to applause.

Only one other question touched on environmental problems. A Manasquan resident began telling the governor about his problems with the DEP and a retaining wall he built to protect his home.

Christie referred the resident to DEP Commissioner Bob Martin, who was at the meeting, along with other members of Christie’s cabinet.

Reginah Mako, a sophomore at Sayreville High School, asked the governor why he was recommending a longer school day and year.

Christie assured her that Sayreville would not be on a potential list of schools with a longer school day and year because it is not a failing district.

The governor said urban school districts, including Newark, Jersey City and Trenton, would be targeted. He said that that charter schools in Newark that are open 11 months a year and have longer school days have shown improvement.

Udit Modi, another Sayreville High student, asked the governor what could be done to give students a bigger voice in the schools. “There is no students union,” he said, adding he often attends school board meetings.

Christie said he didn’t have any ideas, but asked the 18-year-old to contact his staff to schedule a meeting to discuss the issue.

“I’m putting the onus on you,” the governor said, recalling that he felt the same way as a student at the University of Delaware and pushed for two student representatives on the college board.

In the town meeting, the governor reiterated his opposition to the legalization of marijuana.

“We’re not going to turn our state into a place where people fly into to get high,” he said.

“It’s a slippery slope,” he said.

Christie told a mother of a teenage son who uses edible marijuana for medical reasons that he is willing to change his opinion on the regulations of medical marijuana once more evidence is collected.